Principal Investigator - Firmware Engineer; Eye Tracking

Position: Principal Investigator - Firmware Engineer (Eye Tracking)
Location: Via Milano

Principal Investigator - Firmware Engineer (Eye Tracking)
We are a global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of ophthalmic lenses, frames, and sunglasses. We offer our industry stakeholders in over 150 countries access to a global platform of high-quality vision care products (such as the Essilor brand, with Varilux, Crizal, Eyezen, Stellest and Transitions), iconic brands that consumers love (such as Ray‑Ban, Oakley, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Vogue Eyewear and Costa), as well as a network that offers consumers high‑quality vision care and best‑in‑class shopping experiences (such as Sunglass Hut, Lens Crafters, Salmoiraghi & Viganò and the Grand Vision network), and leading e‑commerce platforms.
Join our global community of over 190,000 dedicated employees around the world in driving the transformation of the eyewear and eyecare industry.
Are you willing to pioneer new frontiers, foster inclusivity and collaboration, embrace agility, ignite passion, and make a positive impact on the world? Join us in redefining the boundaries of what’s possible.
Your Role
Essilor Luxottica and Politecnico di Milano have created the first ever joint research center aimed at designing the smart glasses of the future (Essilor Luxottica Smart Eyewear Lab), capable not only of correcting vision defects and providing an object of style and protection for eye health, but also of offering new AR (augmented reality) experiences. A first example of smart glasses made by Luxottica are the Ray‑Ban Meta and Nuance Audio.

The overall project aims to develop smart glasses with the integration of new hardware (electronics, sensors, processors, interconnectivity) and new algorithm and software (advanced signal processing, data processing, artificial intelligence, machine learning) to add new functionalities on glasses.
The Essilor Luxottica Smart Eyewear Lab in Milan will work as part of the Group’s R&D platform, already operating globally, with more than 30 R&D centers dedicated to vision care, eyewear design, sustainability and digital transformation, around 1,000 researchers and more than 11,000 patents. The Lab will initially last five years and will employ when fully operational over 100 researchers and scientists working closely together in a dedicated space within the Innovation District, which the Politecnico di Milano is currently developing in the Parco dei Gasometri, located in the Bovisa area in Milan.
Main Responsibilities

Firmware development for embedded systems
Device drivers and communication protocols
Memory and low‑power sensors management
Integration of conventional and non‑conventional cameras (e.g., event‑based cameras)
Proof‑of‑concept (POC) realization for new features
Contribute to the development of the research centre as a specialist in embedded systems and firmware, collaborating with students, researchers, and Essilor Luxottica engineers.
Design and implement advanced firmware architectures for smart glasses, integrating low‑power sensors, cameras (including event‑based), and communication protocols.
Optimize embedded algorithms for eye tracking, signal processing, and machine learning, ensuring efficient deployment on microcontrollers and low‑power processors (ARM Cortex‑M, RISC‑V, FPGAs).
Create and maintain device drivers and hardware abstraction layers, enabling seamless interaction between sensors, cameras, and other system components.
Manage memory and power consumption to achieve high performance in battery‑powered wearable devices.
Integrate and validate functionalities in proof‑of‑concept embedded systems, ensuring robustness and scalability.
Collaborate in multidisciplinary team meetings, contributing technical insights and aligning firmware development with research objectives.
Engage with academic partners and industry stakeholders, supporting joint projects.

Main Requirements

Deep knowledge of embedded systems and firmware architecture design
Strong experience in RTOS and bare‑metal programming
Expertise in machine learning techniques and signal processing algorithms
Experience on both ARM and RISCV MCU architectures

Education:

Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science,…